In dysfunctional families, there’s often a golden child and a scapegoat. The golden child is seen as the “perfect” child or the one that is always there for family. They’re rewarded for meeting the parents needs before their own. They learn self sacrifice as love, and can be a form of self esteem for a narcissistic parent (NP.) The scapegoat is the person in the family unit that is blamed for all of the families issues. Of course, the true issues step from family system, but this enables denial.